Oh I can assure you that however you look(ed) and talk(ed), it's nothing compared to what I saw in that dream! When I say vulgar, I mean... well, jaw-droppingly bad, and not just swearing but a general emptiness of language, like inane phrases and chatspeak and such. I just cannot see you coming anywhere close to that.

I did not find out the identity of the old rich man, so Gil-Galad it is.

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Location: Unattended on the railway station, in the litter at the dancehall

Posts: 2,904

Other Dream Mithology and London Traffic

I had a Barrow Downs dream last night and another about a week ago which I haven't posted yet.

In the first one I was driving a rented car through London (a feat I'd be very reluctant to attempt in real life, as I hate having to manuver in city traffic) en route from hotel to airport. Naturally I got lost and found myself in a backstreet with no idea how to get to the airport. A car in front of me turned right into a garage (this city was obviously only dream!London, as we were all driving on the continental side of the street), and just as I was passing it some people got out and I recognized Hookbill and Kath among them (the rest were unfamiliar). I stopped, tyres screeching, and we had a joyful surprise meeting. Right then I remembered that I had forgotten half my luggage at the hotel, but Hook and Kath were very sweet and helpful and informed the airport that I was going to be late while I phoned the hotel and convinced them to send the luggage directly to the airport. Unfortunately I woke up before we'd had much time to talk.

The other dream occurred tonight and involved Mithadan, whom I've never met nor interacted with a lot on the Downs. He contacted me because my wife's aunt, of all people, was to give a TV or radio presentation about Tolkien. Since Auntie has hitherto shown little interest in the Professor's work, Mith suggested the two of us ghostwrite it for her. We met at someone else's conspiratorial flat, and Mith, who looked a bit like a Beat poet and a bit like a defrocked priest, informed me we would have to do some original research at a nearby church/castle. Exploring it, we discovered a system of secret passages which kept narrowing until we could only squeeze through sideways, walking like Egyptians. Just as we finally reached a wide open hall my alarm clock rung.

__________________The 21st century is when everything changes, you've got to be ready.

A cruise ship belonging to the Empire with lots of passengers on board had some sort of accident not too far from shore. The ship sunk, but most of the passengers were able to swim/float to shore. However, because the Empire is inherently evil, they programmed the ship to release large portions of some deathly microorganism if it is destroyed. However, that organism selectively targeted certain racial groups. As a result, upon reaching the shore, most people just got up and walked away, but all Native Americans (yeah...) already were infected by this freakish pathogen and were lying on the sand, unconscious with fever. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker and friends came to the nearby settlement to rid it of the Empire's presence. They discovered the deathly ill Native Americans, and briefly speculated about the nature of the pathogen. Before leaving the place, Luke appointed a person to govern the town and oversee the care of the Native Americans. When he was saying that, he mentioned the name of the town. It sounded somewhat like Omaha, and at that moment I realized that the person appointed as its governor was The Phantom. The end.

*bows*

I'd love to know more about this horrifying microorganism. It must be able to thrive in ocean water and travel quickly. Since its effect came several minutes after exposure, it was probably releasing some super strong toxins into the bloodstream (perhaps potent vasodialators, leading to a septic shock? Or neurotoxins?). All that the people in my dream said was that it was transferred with fluids and that "it's not AIDS" (by which I assume Luke meant HIV). Also, they speculated that the method of infection was swallowing small amounts of contaminated seawater while swimming to shore. Now that's some bio warfare!

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A few nights ago I had a dream that once in Edinburgh, I will be lodging together with Hookbill and Steve in a trailer. The two gentlemen showed up in said trailer here in Canada and camped out for a while, and assured me that I'm welcome to share the trailer with them once I come to Edinburgh. It might be a bit cramped, they said, but living costs are way cheaper, and you don't have to pay the property tax. I accepted their kind offer. After hanging out for a couple days, they went back to Edinburgh in their trailer. Over the Atlantic. Apparently, it's quite the trailer.

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I had a dream Legate came over for lunch in what was supposed to be my parent's new place. We started talking about books (duh), one thing led to another and I ended up transferring to his computer all the Russian books I've saved up as pdfs, including the entire Harry Potter series.

You're welcome, Legate. If any of you want a pdf of a book you can't find in the library...

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Was I grumbling about the heating, badgering people about invoices, cursing the photocopier and saying "Fine" in the way that doesn't mean "That's okay" but rather "Well if that is your attitude, prepare for Shock and Awe"?

I had a dream that birthday celebrations at Pitch's place started a couple months early, and Downers were already gathering there with the plan of hanging around and partying on until July, which made Mrs. Pitch rather unhappy. I arrived too, and met some of the Finland delegation, Faramir Jones, and other unnamed Downers - and of course Pitch, who also seemed overwhelmed from entertaining guests for such a long time. At that point I realized that I was supposed to do a whole lot before coming there, and told the Downers that I would have to go back to Edingurgh "because all my stuff is still there. Oh, and I have two more months of classes". They suggested I "call in sick and stay until Monday night". I thought that's a good idea, but I couldn't for the life of me recall what day of the week it is now and what I'd be missing between now and Monday. Meanwhile, Agan was trying to show me what Finnish sounds like, but she kept picking borrowed words that basically sound like accented English. It was at that moment that we learned that war broke out, so everyone began studying the ranks and epaulettes of the officers (of what army? Well, the one fighting the war, of course!). Then we learned an interesting fact about the Finnish army (who was not, for the record, fighting the war). Apparently they have a semi-autonomous section lead by a medium-rank officer, and all their epaulettes, instead of having the usual stripes or stars or dots and stuff, have a unicorn head.

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My family and I were on a long trip on some very large cruise, or maybe one of those Doctor Who city-spaceships, and Hookbill was coming for a visit. I made a very tasty looking baked dessert roll for his coming, and set off to meet him in the arrival place. I was a little late because of the baking, and he wasn't there by the time I came. On the way back I discovered he has met my siblings and some other kids, and they were all arguing heatedly over something in a park. "I am disappointed in you," I reprimanded Hook, "The kids are kids and my siblings are my siblings, but I thought better of you."

When we came home, I offered him the roll I made, but the ungrateful dream-Hook refused. "I am allergic to ragweed, cat dander, and[list some other allergies that are irrelevant to baked goods], I can't eat it. Even if you say you didn't use any of the ingredients I am allergic to, you have cats at home, and their hair could have gotten on the roll." Well, dream-Hook, for your information the allergens you listed are all respiratory and would not do squat to you if a tiny bit got in your stomach, it's not like you're stuffing yourself full of cat dander - but whatever, more dessert for me.

After chatting for a while, Hookbill said he was hungry and he really wanted eggs and carrots. So we started wrapping quail eggs (because we can, that's why) and pieces or carrot into foil to bake in an oven (because we can, that's why). Dream-Hook seemed very happy about the prospective meal, despite the possibility of cat fur getting on the tinfoil. The hypocrite.

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So, last night I dreamed that The Barrow Downs was a book/hobby shop, owned by the Barrow-Wight.
I went inside, noting that it had been completely redecorated since my last visit. I found The Wight (who, for some strange reason, looked like this guy), and told him how I liked the new look of the place. He then informed me he had, in fact, just sold the store, and that woud be his last day there.
Crestfallen, I said I wanted to stay in touch, and gave him one of my business cards. The phone number on the card was wrong, and I gave him another card. The number on that one was wrong too, and with mounting dismay, I awoke. Analyze that, Freud.